The Charge

"High School Musical Cast: the Real American Idols"
—Hollywood Reporter

The Case

Two years ago, the cast of High School Musical were starving actors,
waiting tables and working at the mall, hoping for that one big break. For love
or for money, they were cast in a low budget romantic musical for Disney. They
came, they filmed, they went back to their lives. Then a crazy thing happened,
the soundtrack to this barely watched made-for-cable TV movie went quadruple
platinum. And nothing was ever the same again.

The six young leads were suddenly the hottest tickets in teen-town with
their faces on t-shirts, posters and magazines and while a sequel movie was in
the works they were sent on a tour of 40 cities, each time playing to sell out
crowds.

Reminiscent of the "Fame" concert tour back in the 80's, the High
School Musical concert crew draws them in more on name than on talent. Not that
these kids can't sing, but let's face it, in this case it's all about the
package.

High School Musical: The Concert was filmed during a single
performance in Texas. The majority of the concert is a song-by-song recitation
from the movie and as is the case of "Stick to the Status Quo," some
of the vocals come from the recorded soundtrack and not those performing live on
stage.

The stage and the staging—is a problem. These young actors fill up a
movie screen just fine but they absolutely disappear on the enormous sweeping
auditorium stage and poor costuming has them often blending in to the video
screen background. A stage this large needs a huge compliment of back-up dancers
but rarely are there more than two people on stage at a time and even the finale
lacked the punch it had in the movie.

And as much as I loved the movie's choreography, there's very little of it
here and constantly changing camera angles makes it difficult to follow even the
simplest routine.

Musically, it's a nice listen. The show has a fun mix of peppy pop tunes and
romantic ballads from the movie, rounded out with three new songs meant to push
the solo albums of the performers.

Ah, the performers—that's the other problem. The movie's star, Zac
Efron won't be found on this concert DVD. He was off filming the new movie Hairspray. Ironically, the actor who
takes his place, Drew Seeley, is a much better singer than Efron but that's not
likely to pacify teenybopper fans with I Love Zac T-shirts. (Pssst, here's a
secret. Seeley's voice was actually mixed with Zac Efron's on the original movie
soundtrack to create a richer sound.)

As for the rest of the cast, much of the heavy lifting is done by Vanessa
Hudgens (Gabriella) and she fairs better than expected. Lucas Grabeel (Ryan)
excels at host duties but he and on-screen sister Ashley Tisdale (Sharpay) are
more actors than singers so they're mostly there for laughs and sweet Monique
Coleman (Taylor) is completely lost in the shuffle.

The real star of this DVD is versatile Corbin Bleu (Chad). He sings, he
dances, he jumps rope! Great stage presence and a lot of fun to watch.

The extras on this DVD include music videos starring opening act Jordan
Pruitt, a ridiculously short "Sneak Peek" at High School Musical
2, and a completely confusing "U Direct" interactive feature. On
the upside is the "On the Road" featurette. This home movie style
video really shows the not-so-glamorous side of touring and it has a personal
feel that fans are sure to enjoy.

The Verdict

The court would like to remind you that We're All in This Together,
and you can't just Stick with the Status Quo. You want to Bop to the
Top you gotta Get'cha head in the Game.